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About this project

Hi there! We are Arsenic Playground. And we’re safe to play!

We’re in an elevator, and the team’s got a PITCH. You got 5 seconds?

Sira is a first-person puzzle game set during a solar apocalypse that revolves around avoiding sunlight while navigating in the shade.
Here’s an OVERVIEW in about 30.
Utopian Earth has become a planet of deserts and empty cities devoid of life. You play as a lost soldier stranded in the dead capital, where direct exposure to the hellish sunlight can mean death. To survive, your only choice is to use the environment to protect yourself from the Sun. To uncover the truth, you’ll walk in the shadows as you navigate the city in search of an answer.

The roads are treacherous, but you must brave them. Machines obstruct your path, but you must bend them to your will. As you carve out a path through the beautifully haunting cityscape, you will discover the tragedies of Earth and your own identity.

“By Jove!” you might say, “WHO the flip ARE you people?!”
Team Arsenic Playground is just your average group of guys (and girls!) tinkering around in the basement next door at all hours of the night. Except we are also dedicated, creative people united by a vision and passion to make enthralling game experiences.

But enough about us mincing buzzwords and dumping adjectives. Like the Princess says, you are our only hope! This is WHY we need your help.
Sira is an ambitious project. So far, we’ve been running on nothing but caffeine and sheer willpower. (Think glowing rings with java bean insignias.) But as anyone who’s been through development knows, the tollman always comes a-knocking. Between software and music licensing fees, hardware, promotion/marketing and travel costs, we’ve found ourselves in a bit of a bind.

But you can save us! Your contributions will go to all that stuff we just mentioned, and every iota of support helps. Plus if we exceed our goal of $4,000, we can go on to add things like and-the-such-as: a MAC OS port or additional episodes.

What we are making is going to be free to play, and we have planned for it to be episodic. This Kickstarter is for all of the episodes. The number of episodes that get made will depend on how the public reacts. Think of this as a TV show, when the show has a lot of viewers then they get more funding and stay on the air longer. However where Sira differs from a TV show is that the length of each episode will vary based on what we believe is needed to tell the story. Due to the nature of game development you should also be aware that all of this is subject to change once the game starts to come together. If anything changes we will make sure to tell all of you!

“All right, Tony. What’s in it for us?”
We’re glad you asked, but who the flip is Tony?

Anyway, the details are available for your perusal on the right. The kinds of things you’ll be getting include, but far from limited to:

Content influence (i.e. contributing names, asset ideas)

Commissions and printed concept art

The soundtrack

Our shooting script

Team photos and access to chats

Named credit

And more...!

Remember: the rewards are CUMULATIVE! When you pledge, you get everything it says in the box and all the ones above it in the lesser pledge amounts. That’s one heck of a killing, Bob.

We’ve tried to keep it brief so far. And if you want to pledge already, then great! Head on over and pick how far on the journey you want to go. But if you want to know more about the game and the team behind it... Then read on, brother.

Story

In a matter of centuries, the face of the world was changed. Technological utopias grew so vast, they rose to the clouds. And while neon towers loomed tall, people forgot the ground on which they stood. But after a stellar mutation caused the Sun to evolve through eons of its lifecycle, deserted metropolises littered the Earth. Now, oceans are vanishing. The atmosphere is dissolving. And though the automated cities live on, billions are dead.

From the scattered survivors, a prophet emerges with a holy message for the last of humankind and begins amassing followers. Those who oppose his gospel form a resistance force, and an uncivil war breaks out on the fields of Armageddon.

*Images are without Production Lighting*

Far away from the front lines of this conflict, another battle begins. Forced to walk only in the shade, a man in an exosuit must chase an elusive enigma into the heart of a dead capital.

Gameplay
Sira is a first-person puzzle game that revolves around the Sun. The last remaining ecosystems on Earth are the man-made droid ecosystems in the cities. But gradual disrepair has transformed the technoscape into your primary source of opposition.

As you move through the city, various technology-based obstacles will block your progress. You’ll have to find ways to manipulate the environment to safely make it through. The level incorporates Logic-based, Physics-based, and Environment-based puzzles. In essence, the path forward is one you have to make with your own hands and out of your own ingenuity. The only way to navigate the city’s sunlit roads is to form paths in the shade and avoid direct light at all costs.

After all is said and done...
If you’ve read this far, we congratulate you on your inordinate patience. More to the point, we’d also like to thank you for any and all of your support. We hope you’re interested in seeing this project come to life, and if you are, please donate whatever you can!

And spread the word, too! It ain’t just a proverb, folks; it seriously takes a village. Too many times has creative media (games, TV shows, etc.) been cut down by The Powers even though they still had a steady following of loyal fans. So let’s not let that happen anymore. Agreed?

Once again, thank you! The Arsenic Playground wishes upon you the very best of things.

And may a solar apocalypse never hit us. Ever.

FAQ

Release will come through STEAM: for PC and MAC Platforms....We do not have any current plans for supporting Linux....if we make over our funding goal; it's one of the first things we'd like to consider.

Your money is first and foremost going to the overall production of Sira as a whole, current and future. most of the funding will be going towards purchasing professional versions of programs, as well as licensing for STEAM and other various things that require us to license them before we release the product.

Rewards

Pledge $1 or more

Credit as a Benefactor on our website, a SIGNED PHOTO emailed to you, a copy of the GAME ITSELF and all subsequent episodes, as well as our gratitude eternal.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $10 or more

101 backers

A pack of epic Sira WALLPAPERS, a CANDID PHOTO of the team at work, IN-GAME CREDIT as an "Epic Benefactor". A TRACK from the Sira Soundtrack. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $25 or more

64 backers

a SIGNED ONE-OF-A-KIND SKETCH done by one of our concept artists, a copy of the SOUNDTRACK, as well as a copy of the Limited Sira Edition Hell or High Water EP by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $50 or more

20 backers

Access to our LIVESTREAM, a Sira POSTER (the first 50 are signed by both the Arsenic Playground Team and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), as well as a copy of the Limited Sira Edition Am I the Enemy LP by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and a EARLY RELEASE OF THE GAME. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $100 or more

6 backers

SIGNED copy of the SCRIPT, the chance to present an idea for a fictional IN-GAME ADVERTISEMENT the team will make. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Jul 2012

You selected

Pledge $250 or more

3 backers

You get ACCESS TO THE BETA RELEASE.As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Jul 2012

You selected

Pledge $500 or more

1 backer
Limited (2 left of 3)

You get to NAME A DROID CHARACTER that all players will have to face. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the other limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Jul 2012

You selected

Pledge $1,000 or more

0 backers

You will be credited in game as the ASSOCIATE PRODUCER with all its glory and influence. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Jul 2012

You selected

Pledge $2,500 or more

0 backers

The Director of Sira, Berryman, will shave his beard. As well as everything that was mentioned previous to this reward minus the limited rewards.

Estimated delivery:Jul 2012

Funding period

Mar 27, 2012 - May 4, 2012
(38 days)

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